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Boulder County Commissioners OK open-space purchase near Nederland

Protecting 200 acres costs $2 million

By John FryarLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
05/14/2013 09:27:18 PM MDT

Updated:
05/14/2013 09:28:51 PM MDT

BOULDER -- Boulder County commissioners on Tuesday approved the $2 million purchase of about 200 acres of the remaining privately owned Caribou Ranch-Sherwood Gulch property next to the Caribou Ranch and Mud lake open space areas near Nederland.

The seller, James William Guercio, would retain ownership of about 20 acres southeast of the property the county is buying and could build as many as five homes there.

The county's acquisition, however, would protect 200 acres -- land bounded on the north by County Road 126 and on the south by other private properties -- from ever being developed.

Two people spoke at the Tuesday morning public hearing on the proposed purchase.

Arnold suggested the county also name a trail through the property for Samuel Conger, an avid hiker, a successful 19th- and early 20th-century prospector and the founder of what some say was once the largest tungsten mine in the United States, now one of several abandoned mines on the property.

Mark Haynes, who lives on County Road 128 West, southwest of the property, said he didn't oppose the county's acquisition but had some concerns about the need for cleanup of construction debris, trash and a forestry slash pile.

Haynes also raised safety concerns, saying there are numerous mine shafts on the property.

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Janis Whisman, the county Parks and Open Space Department's real estate division manager, said Boulder County is working with the state's Department of Reclamation Mining and Safety on closing any remaining open mine shafts. Details about who'll be responsible for cleanup costs are expected to be worked out with the property's seller before the county closes on the transaction, Whisman said.

Commissioners Cindy Domenico, Deb Gardner and Elise Jones unanimously voted their support of the acquisition. The transaction will be formalized later this month, and Whisman said the county and Guercio are expected to close on the deal on May 28.

Whisman has said the acquisition -- recommended in a 6-1 vote of county Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee members on April 25 -- will provide a contiguous stretch of several hundred acres of open space by connecting the 165-acre portion of the Mud Lake Open Space to the east and the 2,151-acre Caribou Ranch Open Space area to the north.

The property includes about 0.8 miles of Sherwood Creek, which runs into North Boulder Creek just east of the Peak to Peak Highway.

The property is expected to be opened to equestrian and hiking use. County Parks and Open Space director Ron Stewart told commissioners that some mountain biking may also be allowed on a trail.

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